Guide · Updated August 2026
Things to do in and around Erdemli
What there is to do in Erdemli itself, and the ruins, gorges and beaches within a short drive along the Mersin–Silifke coast.
Erdemli is a base rather than an attraction, and it is a good one. The town itself gives you the sea, a market, and dinner; the coast on either side gives you the rest.
In town
The beach. The public beach is the centre of the day from June to September. It is a Turkish town beach — families, tea, umbrellas — rather than a resort beach with a sunbed operation.
The market. Weekly markets are how this coast shops: fruit, vegetables, cheese, textiles, at prices that make a self-catering flat worth having. The Alata market — the one for this neighbourhood — runs on Tuesdays, on Köypınarı Caddesi. Erdemli district has thirteen markets spread across the week, so if you miss Tuesday there is another one somewhere.
Evening on the seafront. The Turkish coastal evening — a walk, tea, ice cream, the sun going down over the water — is not a scheduled activity, but it is what most people remember.
Within a short drive
The stretch of coast west of Erdemli, towards Silifke, is one of the more interesting archaeological corridors in Türkiye, and almost none of it is crowded.
The trout farm, 20 minutes inland. A working farm with a restaurant attached: the trout swim in the pond and you can catch your own by hand. About as fresh as fish gets. Reviews online are mixed, so it is worth a check before you drive out.
The zoo at Toroslar, about an hour away. A full afternoon with children, and the road climbs away from the coastal heat on the way.
Kızkalesi — 25 km, 30 minutes. A castle standing in the sea a short swim offshore, with a second castle facing it from the beach. It is the postcard of this coast and it deserves to be.
Cennet and Cehennem — 29 km, 33 minutes. Two enormous collapsed sinkholes in the hills above Narlıkuyu — “Heaven” and “Hell”. There are steps down into the first one, with a Byzantine chapel at the bottom.
Narlıkuyu. A small fishing settlement below the sinkholes, known for fish restaurants and a Roman mosaic.
Silifke and the Göksu delta. Further west: a castle above the town, and a river delta that is one of the better birdwatching sites in the country.
Mersin — 44 km, 45 minutes. The nearest city, east along the coast: a long seafront, a covered bazaar, and the range of restaurants a district town does not have.
Up into the mountains
Behind the coast the land rises quickly into the Taurus foothills, and it gets noticeably cooler as you climb. This is where local families go when the shore gets too hot in August: campsites, parks, picnic grounds and a shooting range are all up there, within an easy drive of Erdemli.
What to eat
Mersin province has its own kitchen and it is worth taking seriously: tantuni, thin-cut meat cooked on a flat iron and rolled in flatbread; cezerye, a carrot and nut sweet; and citrus, which grows all along this coast — the region supplies much of the country’s lemons and oranges.
Staying in Erdemli? The apartment on this site is ten minutes on foot from the public beach, with free parking for the days you drive out along the coast.